As expected, Airbus has reached an agreement to buy AL! BOM-o's remaining stake in the A220 programme, the two companies revealed in a joint statement on February 13. The deal seals Bombardier's exit from commercial aviation.
The transaction, which is effective immediately, distributes Bombardier's 33.58% holding in Airbus Canada, formerly known as C Series Aircraft (CSALP), so that Airbus raises its stake from 50.06% to 75% while the Government of Québec sees its stake rise from 16.36% to 25%.
Bombardier will receive USD591 million from Airbus, net of adjustments, USD531 million of which has already been transferred and the remaining USD60 million will be paid "over the 2020-21 period," the statement said. The deal also frees Bombardier from its future funding capital requirements to Airbus Canada, as well as securing more than 3,300 jobs in Québec.
The Québec government's stake is redeemable by Airbus in 2026, three years later than before. As part of the transaction, Airbus, via its wholly-owned subsidiary Stelia Aerospace, has also acquired the A220 and A330 work package production capabilities from Bombardier in Saint-Laurent, Québec.
Airbus and Québec said that the new agreement underlines their commitment to the A220 programme "during this phase of continuous ramp-up and increasing customer demand", which saw orders for the aircraft increase by 64% to 658 units from when Airbus took majority ownership of the programme on July 1, 2018, to January 31, 2020.
The A220 announcement came as Airbus posted full-year earnings before interest and tax. The manufacturer slumped to a full-year net loss of EUR1.36 billion euros (USD1.48 billion) compared with a net profit of EUR3.05 billion (USD3.32 billion) in 2018. Its results were hit by a EUR3.6 billion (USD3.92 billion) penalty in a bribery settlement, and a EUR1.2 billion (USD1.3 billion) hit from lower export prospects for the A400M military transport turboprop, Reuters reported.
